Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and secondary schools in this state and authorizes local educational agencies throughout the state to operate schools and provide instruction to pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive.

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact future legislation relating to elementary and secondary education.

Date of Hearing: May 6, 2026

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Buffy Wicks, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 2675

Author:(Arambula) – As Amended Ver:March 19, 2026

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No

SUMMARY:

This bill requires the California Department of Education (CDE), in consultation with the State Board of Education (SBE) and California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE), to prepare, on or before December 31, 2027, and update every two years a compilation of best practices regarding technology use, including a model policy for including best practices in Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAPs) and specified technical assistance, to support students in priority schools or Title I schools under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

The bill requires the CDE and CCEE conduct at least three informational webinars in 2028 and requires the CDE to publish and post the compilation of best practices and the model policy on its internet website on or before December 31, 2027.

FISCAL EFFECT:

Ongoing General Fund costs of an unknown but potentially significant amount, likely in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, for CDE to hire additional staff to prepare and maintain technology use best practices and model policy and provide at least three informational webinars and technical assistance.

COMMENTS:

1. Purpose. According to the author:

The global pandemic underscored the digital divide in K–12 education, exposing deep disparities that disproportionately affect pupils attending public schools in underserved communities. These historical disparities hinder equitable access to educational opportunities, limiting pupil success and long-term economic prosperity. AB 2675 establishes a compilation of statewide best practices for effectively integrating educational technology into the classroom.

1. Background. Title I and Priority Schools. Title I of the ESSA provides supplemental financial assistance to LEAs for children from low-income families. Its purpose is to provide every child significant opportunity to receive a fair, equitable, and high-quality education, and to close educational achievement gaps by allocating federal funds for education programs and services. Title I bases school-level allocations on school poverty rates, commonly defined by LEAs as the number of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (FRPL). However, not all Title I-eligible schools participate in Title I programs, due to rules governing within-LEA allocations and state and district flexibility for allocating Title I funds. These rules also mean that Title I per-pupil allocations for schools vary across schools within LEAs, across LEAs within a state, and across states. California received $2.4 billion in Title I funds for the 2024-25 school year.

Established in 2019 as part of the Golden State Teacher Grant program administered by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC), a priority school is any school with a Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) Unduplicated Pupil Percentage (UPP) 55% or more. The LCFF defines UPP as the number of students classified as an English learner, eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, or who are foster youth (counted only once if meeting multiple criteria) divided by total enrollment. The 2024-25 school year list of priority schools contains 7,085 schools.

This bill encourages an LEA with Title I schools or schools with a UPP of 55% or greater to incorporate the CDE-prepared technology use best practices into their LCAPs.

CDE Not Resourced to Provide Technology Support. The CDE maintains the Information and Technology Branch internally, responsible primarily for managing the information technologies for CDE employees and handles the educational data relating to assessments and accountability of schools and students. The branch is not equipped to provide the technical support needs of individual LEAs related to education technology.

Previously, the state supported a robust Educational Technology program, which included the California Technology Assistance Project (CTAP) and Statewide Education Technology Services (SETS). The CTAP provided a regional network of technical assistance, coordination, and services to schools and school districts in education technology throughout 11 regions of the state. The SETS was a centralized program that addressed locally defined needs through four projects, including an online resource list aligned with state content standards, online resource providing training and support for school information technology staff, resources to support school administrators for school management and data-driven decision making, and access to online assessments and student proficiency assessment data. In 2013 the state subsumed funding associated with these programs into the LCFF.

1. Related Legislation. AB 903 (Ávila Farías), of the current legislative session, is substantially similar to this bill and also requires the CDE to establish the School Technology Empowerment Advisory Committee. AB 903 was held in this committee.

Analysis Prepared by: Aaron Heredia / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: April 22, 2026

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

Darshana R. Patel, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 2675 (

Author:Arambula) – As Amended Ver:March 19, 2026

SUBJECT: School accountability: local control and accountability plans: education technology: best practices

SUMMARY: Requires the California Department of Education (CDE), on or before December 31, 2027, to prepare a compilation of best practices to harness the power of technology to support pupil academic success and accelerate pupil academic achievement for local educational agencies (LEAs) that have a priority school, or that receive Title I funding, including a model policy for incorporation of those best practices into local control and accountability plans (LCAPs). Specifically, this bill:

1. Requires the CDE, in consultation with the State Board of Education (SBE) and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE), on or before December 31, 2027, to prepare a compilation of best practices to harness the power of technology to support pupil academic success and accelerate pupil academic achievement for LEAs that have a priority school, defined as school with 55% or more of its students being unduplicated pupils, or that receive funding pursuant to Title I of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.), as amended by the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) (Public Law 114-95), including a model policy for incorporation of those best practices into LCAPs.
2. Requires the CDE to publish and post the compilation of best practices and model policy on its website on or before December 31, 2027.
3. Requires the CDE, in collaboration with the CCEE, to conduct at least three informational webinars in 2028 for LEAs to understand how to incorporate the best practices into their LCAPs under the model policy.
4. Requires the CDE, in consultation with the SBE and the CCEE, on or before December 31, 2028, to identify ways to encourage LEAs to incorporate the compilation of best practices and the model policy into their LCAPs, and to identify ways to showcase LEAs that have demonstrated success integrating technology in a manner that has positively impacted pupil achievement.
5. Defines “LEA” to mean a school district, county office of education (COE), or charter school.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Establishes the K-12 High-Speed Network (K-12 HSN), which provides high-speed, high-bandwidth internet connectivity to the public school system for the purposes of enriching pupil experiences and improving pupil academic performance. (Education Code (EC) 11800)
2. Authorizes the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to award educational technology competitive grants based on a school district’s regular average daily attendance (ADA). (EC 33132)
3. Required the stated one-time funds in the education omnibus measure, AB 104 (Committee on Budget), Chapter 13, Statutes of 2015, for school districts to prioritize, among other things, professional development, instructional materials, and technology infrastructure. (EC 41207.41)
4. Appropriated funds from the General Fund and the Federal Trust Fund to the SPI for COVID-19 relief and includes LEAs that provide distance learning in the 2020-21 school year. (EC 43521)
5. Requires LEAs offering in-person instruction for the 2020-21 school year to include all prioritized pupil groups. Prioritized pupil groups include all of the following:
6. Pupils at risk for abuse, neglect, or exploitation;
7. Homeless pupils;
8. Foster youth;
9. English learners; and
10. Pupils without access to a computing device, software, and high-speed internet necessary to participate in online instruction, as determined by the LEA. (EC 43521)

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown

COMMENTS:

Need for the bill. According to the author, “The global pandemic underscored the digital divide in K–12 education, exposing deep disparities that disproportionately affect pupils attending public schools in underserved communities. These historical disparities hinder equitable access to educational opportunities, limiting pupil success and long-term economic prosperity. AB 2675 establishes a compilation of statewide best practices for effectively integrating educational technology into the classroom.”

Key provisions of the bill. This bill has four primary components:

• Would require the CDE to prepare a compilation of best practices to harness the power of technology to support pupil academic success and accelerate pupil academic achievement for specified LEAs, including a model policy for incorporation of those best practices into LCAPs;
• Would require the CDE to publish the compilation of best practices and model policy on its website;
• Would require the CDE to conduct at least three informational webinars in 2028 for LEAs to understand how to incorporate the best practices into their LCAPs under the model policy; and
• Would require the CDE to identify ways to encourage LEAs to incorporate the compilation of best practices and the model policy into their LCAPs, and to identify ways to showcase LEAs that have demonstrated success integrating technology in a manner that has positively impacted pupil achievement.

Technology in classrooms. Whether being used to supplement teaching a course, e-mail communications, or assigning homework, the need for technological connectivity intensified during the pandemic and is inevitably essential moving forward. According to a 2019 Learning Policy Institute article, the ways in which technology is utilized in the classroom can positively affect academic outcomes, such as, “Advancing learning for high school students that are at the greatest risk of failing a class or dropping out of school when it’s interactive rather than one-way, used to support discussions and projects with peers and teachers, and serves as a tool for creation rather than passive consumption. When technologies try to replace teachers, research consistently finds little benefit.”

The CDE and regional technology support. The CDE maintains the Information and Technology Branch. It primarily serves as an internal department that manages the information technologies for CDE employees and handles the educational data relating to assessments and accountability of schools and students. The Branch is not equipped to support the technical support needs of individual LEAs.

Previously, the state supported a robust Educational Technology program, which included the California Technology Assistance Project (CTAP) and Statewide Education Technology Services (SETS). The CTAP provided a regional network of technical assistance, coordination, and services to schools and school districts in education technology throughout 11 regions throughout the State. The SETS provided was a centralized program that addressed locally defined needs through four projects, including an online resource list aligned with state content standards, online resource providing training and support for school information technology staff, resources to support school administrators for school management and data-driven decision making, and access to online assessments and student proficiency assessment data. In 2012, the CTAP and SETS were subsumed into the Local Control Funding Formula.

Title I. This bill would require the CDE, on or before December 31, 2027, to prepare a compilation of best practices to harness the power of technology to support pupil academic success and accelerate pupil academic achievement for LEAs that have a priority school or that receive Title I funding, including a model policy for incorporation of those best practices into LCAPs.

Title I, Part A (Title I) of the ESEA provides supplemental financial assistance to school districts for children from low-income families. Its purpose is to provide all children with a significant opportunity to receive a fair, equitable, and high-quality education, and to close educational achievement gaps by allocating federal funds for education programs and services. Title I allocations to state education agencies and LEAs are based primarily on annually updated LEA poverty estimates produced by the U.S. Census Bureau. Then, within-LEA allocations to schools are based on school poverty rates, for which a common measure used by LEAs is the number of public school children eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (FRPL). However, not all Title I-eligible schools participate in Title I programs, due to rules governing within-LEA allocations and state and district flexibility for allocating Title I funds. These rules also mean that Title I per-pupil allocations for schools vary across schools within LEAs, across LEAs within a state, and across states. California received $2.4 billion in Title I funds for the 2024-25 school year.

LCAPs. This bill would require the CDE to prepare a compilation of best practices to harness the power of technology to support pupil academic success and accelerate pupil academic achievement for specified LEAs, including a model policy for incorporation of those best practices into LCAPs. This bill would also require the CDE to conduct at least three informational webinars in 2028 for LEAs to understand how to incorporate the best practices into their LCAPs under the model policy.

The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) was established in the 2013-14 fiscal year to address the achievement gap by providing more equitable funding among LEAs, that is, to provide a higher level of funding to LEAs that enroll larger numbers of English learners, foster youth, and students eligible for free-or reduced-price meals (unduplicated pupils) so they could provide those students with additional services and support. The reforms to the funding system were accompanied by changes to the state accountability system, including LCAPs. The LCAP is a three-year plan that describes the goals, actions, services, and expenditures to support positive student outcomes that address state and local priorities. The LCAP provides an opportunity for LEAs (school districts, COEs, and charter schools) to share their stories of how, what, and why programs and services are selected to meet their local needs.

All LEAs must use the LCAP template adopted by the SBE. The LCAP template has been updated nearly every year since its inception, primarily to reflect changes established through legislation. The Committee may wish to consider that many LEAs have expressed frustration that the template changes regularly and the changes often lead to the disruption of local planning and implementation efforts.

The digital divide. According to a 2024 Public Policy Institute of California report, California School Districts and the Emergency Connectivity Fund, digital literacy is crucial for ensuring positive educational outcomes. Districts could benefit from sharing information on their best methods for establishing and maintaining effective communication with families. Providing culturally and linguistically competent support for English learners, Black/Latino, and low-income students and their families is particularly important. Libraries, library consortia, and community-based organizations have provided helpful examples in this realm.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in March 2020, public schools were charged with providing high-quality instruction through distance learning and independent study, paying employees, and providing meals to students. Distance learning gave the opportunity for teachers to provide students instruction in different locations from each other to adhere to social distancing health requirements to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

The pandemic upended educational instruction as most LEAs in California opted to shut down, continue instruction through distance learning, and scrambled to provide laptops and connectivity services to all its students. While many households in California already had internet connectivity prior to the onset of the pandemic, disadvantaged student populations such as low-income, Black, and Latino households were less likely to have reliable access to the internet and a digital device. According to a 2022 Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) report, The Digital Divide in Education, the trend continues. Although Black and Latino households increased in access to a digital device, access to reliable internet connection remained stagnant from 2020 to present day. Increases in reliable access to internet service moved at a slower rate, from 71% to 75%, which reflects the challenges for households in remote areas, where internet infrastructure is limited and low-income households in crowded urban areas that could not afford reliable internet connection. The PPIC also noted that households with school children who had full digital access, which includes both a computing device and an internet connection for educational purposes, increased from 60% in spring of 2020, but stalled at 71% in spring of 2021. Although schools resumed in-person instruction in the 2021-22 school year, the COVID-19 pandemic emphasized our reliance on and need for technology as distance learning continued for some students in the form of independent study.

Recent state and federal funding to support closing the digital divide. The Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) was a 2021 federal pandemic-relief program to improve digital access, whose mission emphasized school districts with higher shares of historically underserved populations, including ELs, Black and Latino students, and low-income students. The program ended in June 2024. Although it is too early to gauge the effects of the ECF, the funds were distributed to school districts serving high-needs students, so there is hope that the ECF reached its target audience.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Digital Opportunity Fund (funds to bring high-speed fixed broadband service to rural homes and small businesses that lack it), the Treasury’s Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund (funds to ensure that all communities have access to high-quality modern infrastructure, including broadband), and the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program (funds to expand high-speed Internet access by funding planning, infrastructure deployment and adoption programs) are together slated to provide more than $60 billion in federal funding to states over the next several years. SB 156 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 112, Statutes of 2021, emphasizes connecting historically high-needs communities throughout the state.

Arguments in support. The California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) writes, “AB 2675 is essential step to ensure that California students can achieve their educational goals and that California can accelerate improvement in student academic achievement. The Education Technology Empowerment Act declares that it is the policy of the State of California to harness the power of computing and Internet technologies to support acceleration of student academic performance, with special attention to Title I and high-need Districts and underperforming Schools in low-income neighborhoods.”

Related legislation. AB 903 (Ávila Farías) of the 2025-26 Session would have required the CDE to prepare and update every two years a compilation of best practices regarding technology use, including a model policy for including best practices in LCAPs and specified technical assistance, to support students in priority schools or Title I schools under the ESSA. This bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 1496 (Papan) of the 2021-22 Session would have created, subject to an appropriation, a pilot program at COEs related to educational technology and would have established an office at the CDE to provide technical assistance and teacher professional development to LEAs on educational technology. This bill was held in the Assembly Education Committee.

SB 156 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 112, Statutes of 2021, emphasizes connecting historically high-needs communities throughout the state.

SB 876 (Becker) of the 2021-22 Session would have established the Digital Education Equity Program (DEEP), administered by the CDE, in unison with the 58 COEs, to provide TA and teacher PD to LEAs on the implementation of educational technology as set forth in policies with the SBE, upon appropriation of the Budget Act or another statute. This bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

SB 767 (Becker) of the 2021-22 Session would have made various significant changes to educational technology in schools, including the creation of a new education technology grant program; a requirement that state agencies develop criteria for school technology plans and LEAs adopt technology plans; and would establish a new office at the CDE to administer the grant program, prepare a state technology plan, provide centralized statewide educational technology services and perform other duties. This bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 1176 (E. Garcia) of the 2021-22 Session would have established the California Connect Fund in the State Treasury. The bill, until January 1, 2031, would require the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to develop, implement, and administer the California Connect Program to ensure that high-speed broadband service is available to every household in the state at affordable rates. This bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 1560 (Daly) of the 2021-22 Session would have required the SPI to collect information about pupils’ access to computing devices and residential broadband service, and would authorize the Department of Technology to enter into a sponsored service agreement on behalf of a LEA with a broadband service provider for providing free or reduced-cost residential broadband service to eligible pupils. This bill was vetoed by the Governor, with the following message:

Closing the digital divide is crucial to promoting equity in our schools, which is why I worked with the Legislature to secure $6 billion to expand broadband infrastructure and enhance internet access for unserved and underserved communities. Further, SB 98 (Chapter 24, Statutes of 2020) appropriated $5.3 billion for LEAs to support pupil academic achievement and mitigate learning loss related to the COVID-19 pandemic, funding which they can use for purposes including the purchase of computing devices. Therefore, the provisions of this bill are duplicative and unnecessary.

SB 732 (Bates) of the 2021-22 Session would have required the CDE to develop and implement a program for COEs, school districts, and charter schools to issue no-cash value vouchers to be distributed to households with eligible pupils, to be used during the 2021–22 fiscal year to assist those households with the impacts of distance or remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill would have established the Rural Broadband Infrastructure Fund as a continuously appropriated fund in the State Treasury in order to provide high-quality broadband service to rural areas that are unserved. This bill was held by the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee.

AB 82 (Committee on Budget) Chapter 14, Statutes of 2020, in pertinent part, allowed the California Public Utilities Commission to provide matching funds through the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to broadband providers as they pursue funding through the federal Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.

AB 570 (Aguiar-Curry) of the 2019-20 Session would have made numerous changes to CASF, to encourage deployment of broadband technology to all areas of the state. This bill was held on the Senate Floor.

SB 1130 (L. Gonzalez) of the 2019-20 Session would have made numerous changes to CASF, to encourage deployment of broadband technology to all areas of the state. This bill was held on the Assembly Floor.

ACR 268 (Thurmond) Resolution Chapter 221, Statutes of 2018, resolved that the Legislature considers education technology of the highest priority and that the Legislature convene a state level summit conference to address improvements in education technology and related topics.

AB 1665 (E. Garcia), Chapter 851, Statutes of 2017, revised the goal of the CASF to approve funding by December 31, 2022, for infrastructure projects that will provide broadband access to no less than 98% of California households in each consortia region, as identified by the PUC, among other provisions.

AB 1761 (Sweeney), Chapter 801, Statutes of 1997, required the CDE to establish the CTAP of regional consortia to administer a regionalized network of support to schools and school districts. Required the SBE to issue grants to LEAs to serve as lead agencies in each region.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

American GI Forum Education Foundation of Santa Maria, CA

Anaheim Union High School District

Ball Junior High School

California Emerging Technology Fund

Communify (formerly Community Action Commission of Santa Barbara County)

County of Santa Barbara

Digital Equity Coalition

Digital Navigators

DigitalLift

Economic Development Collaborative

Families in Schools

Family Service Agency of Santa Barbara County

Henry T Gage Middle School

Imperial Valley Economic Development Corporation

Newstart Housing Corporation

Northern Santa Barbara County United Way

Oldtimers Housing Development Corporation

Parent University

Parent University Consortium

Rural Development Centers

Rural Prosperity Center

San Fernando Middle School

Santa Maria Valley Chamber

Sierra Business Council

Silicon Valley Education Foundation

Tech Exchange

Unite-LA

Vernon Middle School

Vina Danks Middle School

Wiconduit

2 individuals

Opposition

None on file

Analysis Prepared by: Marguerite Ries / ED. / (916) 319-2087